We’re so excited to see showy annual plants back at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. These pansies and the smaller-flowered violas were for sale by Phillip’s Farms on Saturday. I see many Brooklyn gardeners growing pansies in this early spring period and then pulling them out by May. We’ll probably put some violas in the pots on our stoop. Pansies — part of the Viola family, as are violets — thrive in cool weather and die back in the heat of the summer.

I’m not sure if we’ll go to the expense of putting short-lived annuals up on the roof. Pansy season will be over before it is consistently warm enough to spend much time on the roof. Still, we’ll probably pop a few in our roof garden since we’re too excited for spring.

I love this detail from Tulsa Gentleman: Superstitious American pioneers thought “a handful of violets taken into the farmhouse in the spring ensured prosperity, and to neglect this ceremony brought harm to baby chicks and ducklings.

Sunflowers don’t immediately strike me as city flowers. Don’t they seem like they’d be happier out in a field somewhere?

And yet, check out this Brooklyn brownstone stoop garden. These sunflowers look amazing there — a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n roll with some bohemian thrown in for good measure. The yellow and brown bring great contrast against the worn brownstone red. Many people plant dark maroon foliage to match the brownstone, but where’s the contrast and the joy?

These sunflowers stretch up to the parlor floor, bringing the viewers eye up to the front of the house. And the sedum Autumn Joy looks great at the foot of the sunflowers where things could be a bit leggy-ugly. I wonder if sunflowers could grow this tall on a roof garden. Would they snap in the wind?

This brownstone planter is simple — just two plants — and elegant. The plants take advantage of their location; passers buy look up into the grass and little blue flowers. If this planting was viewed at ground level, the little flowers might get lost, but here their lacy best can be appreciated at eye level. The plants manage to show off the container without making the container the star.

Unlike some containers that peek and then loose their appeal, this planter has looked great since spring. It breaks the “thriller, spiller, filler rule” with much success. Does anyone recognize the plants in this container?